


Practice

by SayHiDestery



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Some bad language, mentions of sora's junk, pre-kh1, riku also being a jealous pissbaby, riku being a big crybaby, riku is weak for sora, sad sora times, the timeline where riku didn't fuck up, they gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 01:07:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6032572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SayHiDestery/pseuds/SayHiDestery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone expects Sora to be with Kairi; everyone except him.  A slow-burning argument with Riku leads to Sora revealing his true feelings on the idea of being with Kairi.  (Alternately titled: "AU Where Riku Didn't Fuck Up Everything")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Practice

The argument started over training – for what? They didn’t know. Destiny Islands was so peaceful that they only had two hours of news on the television every day, and only four on the radio. The news wasn’t even broadcasted from the islands, but from the mainland. What they did know was that Riku had been raised under a militant, mainland-born-and-raised father who had served a few years of service, even though there was no war to go into.

To a young Riku – who had learned by age seven how to gouge out eyes and make a lethal weapon out of a stick – the idea of his slightly younger but dearly beloved best friend being unable to protect himself was haunting. Even then, Riku didn’t like the idea of ever being away from Sora, but he was sensible enough to know that Sora needed to know how to fight in case anything ever did happen to Riku. In case something ever threatened the peace of their islands.

From there, a constant competition had been born. As they and their friends got older and became increasingly aware of their weirdly intimate friendship, the training evolved into a competition, a stress reliever, and a bonding activity – it became the latter when tight hugs, cheek kisses, and bathing together became inappropriate. To Riku, the latter was the most important.

That is why he has been angry with Sora for slacking off.

He found the missing boy tucked under the sparse shade the trees on the coastline of the play island offered. He was on his side, his head pillowed on a folded arm, all his jagged lines just barely escaping the encroaching tropical sunlight.

 _Well,_ Riku thought mischievously, _might as well test his reflexes._

With no given warning, Riku straddled his friend and wrapped both arms around his head to muffle his screaming and blind him. He used his slightly denser body weight to his advantage, draping himself across Sora to limit his range of motion. Surprisingly, Sora only had about a two second delay before he was screaming into Riku’s palm and blindly driving tight fists and sharp elbows into poorly-judged vitals and weak points.

“This is what happens when you skip training to sleep, slacker,” Riku warned once he’d finished his fun and got off of Sora, letting the smaller of the two gather his bearings from his near-heart attack.

“I absolutely hate you,” the recovering boy huffed from his place on the ground with his head positioned between his knees.

Not done torturing him apparently, Sora could feel Riku’s hand press heavily on the base of his skull, inching Sora’s head deeper between his legs until all of his muscles were screaming in protest and his breathing was labored. He rolled his hips backward so he had more ability to duck and knock Riku’s hand out of the way, shooting his friend an even more violent glare.

“What the hell was that for?” Sora shouted, swatting the air around him for good measure to ensure Riku’s aggressively wandering hands kept away.

The older boy stared down at his friend with a perplexed expression that momentarily betrayed his own confusion , before he gave what was supposed to be an explanatory but ultimately vague hand gesture coupled with a muttered, “Flexibility, duh.”

Sora moved to sit up on his knees so he could dust off stubborn sand and dirt from his jumper and jacket, scoffing at his friend’s crappy explanation indirectly, “I don’t need to be eye-level with my junk, but thanks anyways.”

Riku wore a mildly-disgusted expression that only served to make Sora laugh before sending a customary eye-roll at his friend’s antics. “When did you get such a fowl mouth? I certainly didn’t teach you that. And don’t you know girls don’t like that sort of thing?”

Sora got to his feet, cleaning the sand off his knees, “Tidus spent most of the weekend at my house – his AC broke. And since when did I care about what girls like?” he barked back.

Riku began walking back towards their regular training spot – the peninsula. He didn’t have to look to know that Sora was following. “Are you giving up, then?”

“Giving up what?”

“Kairi.”

“ _What?_ ”

“You heard me.”

In no more than three minutes, Sora had gone from snoozing to seething, one wrong word away from tackling his best friend to the sandy ground with retaliatory blows. “Kairi isn’t mine to give up.” Sora grumbled through clenched teeth, folding his arms across his chest defensively even if Riku wasn’t looking at him.

“I know that, idiot.” Riku chuckled, holding the door open to the clubhouse for Sora who stomped in and headed up the steps. Riku spoke a bit louder to make sure he was heard, “I meant, are you giving up competing for her?”

He was surprised to see Sora holding the door open for him.

“You’re being stupid,” he told Riku, offering a very un-Sora-like frown.

Riku smiled kindly and flicked his friend’s nose, “Wrong. You’re supposed to say _I’d never give up Kairi!_ ” He raised his voice mockingly, trying to imitate a prepubescent Sora.

Sora stuck out his tongue, “You’re the one who’s trying so hard to get her!”

Riku hummed an affirmative, “Yeah, but you’re the one she prefers.”

“Don’t say stuff like- ”

Riku nudged Sora with his shoulder, snickering, “Hey, I can accept it. But I’m still here to make sure you treat her like a princess.”

Sora gave a defeated sigh, gnawing at his bottom lip. “Right.”

That voice didn’t sound like Sora. Sora’s strength was his relentless determination and kind spirit. Sora had never been subservient unless he wanted to be, and even then Sora had a funny way of withholding some form of control in those situations. Sora also wasn’t a liar, so when he tried to lie it was painfully obvious.

Sora only lied when he was afraid, embarrassed, or unsure. This meant that something was bothering him; Riku skipped the formalities, “What’s wrong?”

Sora froze like a deer in headlights, his eyes very slowly sliding up to his friend to mumble a quiet, “What?”

“You’re hiding something.”

“Am not,” he insisted defiantly.

“Sor, cut it- ” Riku grabbed Sora’s wrist to pull him a bit closer, to get him to really look at him.

Apparently, Sora didn’t want to look at him. The boy ripped his hand back as though Riku had somehow burnt him. The funny thing was that Sora’s surprise rivaled Riku’s own in regards to the reaction.

“Sorry,” Sora said automatically, then shook his head like he was rejecting his own apology, “sorry, I’m really… sorry. Riku, I…” he decided against speaking farther and hopped off the bridge, taking off across the sand.

* * *

 

It took Riku nearly five hours to find him. The Secret Place was the first and last place he looked. Sora wasn’t there the first time, but he was the last. Riku entered silently, trying to gauge Sora from a distance. He was sniffling, and from this angle, Riku could see that his eyes were puffy. What had he said that caused Sora to cry? Whatever it was, he would readily apologize – he teased the boy frequently, but he never ( _ever_ ) meant to make the boy cry.

Sora’s hand moved from the cave wall and Riku could see a crudely drawn paopu fruit being offered to an even more crudely drawn Kairi. He recognized the two faces – it was the only drawing Kairi had ever made in the cave and when little Riku found out, he was furious. The offered fruit was new, but from the chalk on Sora’s fingers Riku could see it was brand new.

“That’s the way it’s supposed to be, right?” Sora asked allowed to no one in particular, or so it seemed. When no answer was given, Sora huffed and turned around. Riku thought he got out of sight quick enough, but Sora must have heard him enter because he threw the chalk in Riku’s direction and said, “It’s rude to spy on people and then not answer their question.”

Riku picked up the chalk and stepped out of the shadows, tossing it back to the pitcher. Sora made no attempt to catch it.

“Yeah? Well, it’s rude to run off without any explanation and then hide for the rest of the day.” Riku countered, jerking his chin up as thought daring Sora to argue. He didn’t.

Sora turned back around and stared at his artwork, sighing, “Yeah, I know.”

Without the imploring blue eyes watching him, Riku visibly deflated and took a seat next to his friend, folding his arms over his knees. There was silence, only their breathing echoed in the cave. It was a normal silence, a calm silence, because they’d been friends since diapers and didn’t need to fill every second with meaningless noise. Meaningful silence was okay, it was safe. Sora sometimes liked to think his words over for a bit before speaking, so the silence that prefaced those words was normal and Riku felt no itching need to fill it. Sora would speak when he was ready.

“That’s how it should be, right?” Sora finally asked, his voice just a tad bit husky. He lifted a hand to lazily trace a line underneath the drawings.

Riku thought about how to respond to that, slightly unsure of what Sora was asking. He looked at the drawing for a long time before saying, “There is no _should be_ , Sora. I know that the adults probably expect this,” Riku lifted his hand to tap at the star fruit, which was an island love token and the way most of the adults explained marriage to their children, “but I wouldn’t say that’s how it _should_ be. There are plenty of girls both here and on the mainland.”

The last sentence made Sora flinch, and Riku could see in his peripheral vision Sora curling away from him. When you grow up with someone, they become a part of you. Riku was great at being able to tell when Sora was struggling or hurting – physically or emotionally – even if they were apart from each other. So despite how discreetly Sora tried to wipe the tear away, Riku all but felt it and was on his friend in an instant.

“Sor?” He put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, urging him to look, “Sora, what’s wrong?” But each word he said seemed to break his friend even more, until Sora was curled in on himself with his hands over his mouth to muffle his sobs. Had Kairi hurt Sora? If that was the case, Riku was not above hitting a girl – she already knew how to fight, so it wasn’t like it would be unfair.

Deciding that words weren’t working, Riku positioned himself with Sora between his legs, pulling on his shoulders so that at least if Sora was going to cry, Riku could hold him and offer a quiet sort of comfort. That was wrong, too, because Sora again reacted as though Riku’s touch burned him and pushed himself away, his back pressed against the cave wall. He was truly at a loss. Sora had never, ever reacted this way before. Sora wasn’t embarrassed about crying in front of Riku – it was almost entirely the opposite - but Sora knew how his crying broke Riku’s heart so he had always tried (in vain) to conceal it.

On his last attempt, Riku slowly – _very_ slowly – moved so he was squatting beside Sora, their shoulders barely brushing. That seemed to be the right answer as Sora leaned a bit more against him and made no move to cut the contact.

“Ri…” Sora weakly whined, lifting his head just enough to meet eyes with his best friend. Immediately, Riku sat down and positioned himself so he could pull Sora forward into his lap. This time, Sora didn’t resist and instead actively sought out the sturdiness of Riku’s chest and cried harder. Riku rubbed his back, keeping an even and gentle pressure to ground Sora through this. His calm demeanor belied his fury; when Sora was okay again, Riku was going to seek out whatever made his best friend cry so hard and mutilate it. “Ri… Riku…” Sora made out again, his voice uncharacteristically weak that came with an effect that haunted Riku.

“Yeah?” Riku kept the edges of his voice soft, easy on the ears. He didn’t stop rubbing Sora’s back; he knew how much Sora relied on constants when he was disoriented. Riku was the same way.

“I’m sorry… I’m really, really sorry…” He was fighting back sobs, ones that Riku could feel bubbling in his ribcage.

“Sor, what are you so sorry for? Did you do something bad?” Now he was getting to it – to figuring out what had made Sora like this, what had hurt Sora that had, in turn, hurt him.

Sora shook his head, spiky brown locks tickling Riku’s nose, “N-No… I mean… I don’t know… I-I didn’t mean to if I did, I just… I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.” Sora’s blubbering was hard to make out through the hiccups and shallow breaths and sobs, but Riku got the majority of it.

“Sora…” Riku sighed, pulling his friend a bit closer, “you can tell me anything, y’know. What happened? Do I need to beat someone up?”

That usually got a laugh, even a weak one, but not today. Sora shook his head, fighting the hiccups and the sobs, but still pointedly not looking at Riku. “I… Ri, I think… Ri, I wanna marry my best friend.” He got out, and Riku had to fight the jealousy. He stopped speaking about how Sora calling Kairi his best friend stung like a nest of bees, but that didn’t mean it stopped happening. Riku was territorial over Sora. Everyone knew that – _Kairi_ knew that.

Riku cast a sidelong glance at the picture, sighing into the spiky top of his friend’s head, “Sor, Kairi is crazy about you. Are you scared about telling her that or something?”

Sora, again, shook his head. He was going to make Riku sneeze doing that. “I… I know Kai likes me, but- ”

“But what? Why are you crying if you know-”

“Kairi isn’t my best friend!”

The type of silence that follows that sentence is not easy; it is not comfortable. Riku holds his breath and feels rather than hears Sora’s even shallower breathing and rapid heartbeat. It feels like they remain still like that for minutes, but it was probably only seconds. It’s Riku who moves first, trying to retract slowly to get a better look at Sora’s face – that was a big mistake.

The moment Sora feels a bit of tug from the clothes Sora has fisted, Sora is hyperventilating and wrapping his arms tight around Riku and begging, begging, _begging_ in a voice so pitiful it makes Riku think – just for a moment – that maybe this isn’t Sora on top of him. But it is, this small, quivering body collapsed against his chest and just nearly tearing his clothing with his iron grip. What kills Riku is when Sora finally looks _up_ at him, blue eyes scared, honest, and imploring, his bottom lip trembling and he begs Riku, “Please… please don’t go. I’m sorry. I don’t mean it. It doesn’t have to mean anything. We can pretend I never said it and this never happened, just please don’t go. Don’t stop being my best friend, Riku; I wouldn’t be able to live like that, okay?”

Riku is stunned to silence and those eyes – oh, _god_ those eyes – are shattering him to pieces like he is a porcelain plate thrown at the cave walls, the echo of his destruction louder than its initial impact. There is no need to play it cool, to stay calm, and to try desperately to pass off for stoic when he has a boy in his arms that wants nothing less than warm affection. So he gathers Sora is his arms and crushes them together, hugging himself as tightly as he can to the boy and petting his hair gently. “I’m not leaving… I’m not leaving, it’s okay… Sora, don’t cry, it’s okay. I’m here… I’m here… I’ll always be here.” He tried to reassure him, but this was one of those times when words weren’t enough for either of them, so Riku took the initiative. One hand stayed splayed over Sora’s ribs and the other held his chin as Riku kissed him, hoping he only tasted of good intentions and unconditional love.

Riku wiped away the tears and swallowed every whimper or sob, giving Sora just barely enough room to breathe so to keep Sora’s limited attention only on the connection of their mouths and the little, encouraging sounds Riku sends out across their lips and nothing else – no room for a doubt or idea or regret.

There were none because it was Sora and Riku: best friends since the womb and soul mates even longer. If Sora decided that he wanted to marry Riku and not Kairi, who was he to deny that simple privilege? After all, Riku never wanted to be away from Sora. So if they could get married and never have to leave each other and just kiss like this from sunrise to sunset, Riku would be more than content. If he got to wake up every morning next to Sora, that would be a happy life. Waking up next to Sora was like waking up to a tropical sunset.

They kissed like that until Sora stopped shaking and even longer, until the little bit of light that permeated the cavern was gone and they could no longer see and only feel. Feel hot puffs of breath and swollen lips and unconditional, unadulterated love.

But in the end, Riku still wasn’t going to let Sora get away with slacking off. They were best friends (boyfriends) and best friends kept each other on their toes. So Sora wasn’t going to get away with such treason. Not in the least.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhhhh I wrote this in a rush.... anyone want a part two? a part two with fluff? a part two with porn? a part two with both? I'm willing to make a part two.... I hope you all enjoyed! <3 find me on tumblr @prinxe-destery or @inkonmywrist


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